Cultural Day - AFRICA updated January 28, 2010 The annual tradition of Cultural Day is fast approaching! Students have all been assigned a country from Africa, our big cultural continent for the 2009-2010 school year. Students are expected to... more >
February: Africa, The 13 Colonies & The Revolution, & Chemistry!
For the month of February we are still focusing on our Cultural Continent of the Year: Africa! We've expanded our geography section to include maps and flag research, as well as African places research, land and water forms, plants, animals, tribes and biomes! We have finished up our history studies of the Explorers and world exploration, and have moved into Colonial America, the 13 Colonies, and introduction into the Revolution. We've also learned that the pilgrims weren't the first people to live successfully in America; first there was Roanoke - not so successful, then Jamestown! We completed our unit on the human body and have moved on to chemistry. The students are learning about the elements, the periodic table, states of matter, the scientific method (we'll be conducting some experiments using the scientific method later), and the atom! We are also reading a fabulous book called The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. It offers great discussions for us, because it covers so much of what we've studied and will be studying, plus it is very entertaining! Ask your child about it! We're looking forward to Cultural Day - Africa!, and our analysis of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. We've read the classic book in the series of Narnia, we're going to see it acted out in a play, then watch the hit movie. Our goal is to recognize and discuss the differences in the three mediums: print, play, and film! It should be interesting!
* A special thanks to Mrs. VonDriska for the generous donations of whiteboard markers, digital encyclopedia and our fabulous "Planet Earth" series DVDs - THANKS!
We've welcomed a new friend to our classroom, Blitz, the Green Anole! The students have been enjoying sharing their time with Blitz. They all love to observe Blitz's reptilian behavior. We've been researching the Animal Kingdom and classification, so the students were very excited when we asked them to classify our new friend. Check back for regular Blitz updates.
